Star Fox: Down
by CharmedPluto
Summary: Follow my OC Zane through his interviews with the team regarding one of their last missions before retirement. Written in the style of Max Brook's "World War Z" and mixed in with a sort of Delta Force: Black Hawk Down element. RR
1. Chapter 1

**Star Fox: Down Chapter 1**

For all of you wondering this; my name is Zane. I'm not looking to write this for glory or a Pulitzer or anything of the sort. Why I'm publishing this is for the sake of those involved and uninvolved with questions. As you've probably heard, the Star Fox team announced its official disbanding as of two years ago. A lot of heads turned at this sudden surprise and many people asked why when they first found out. To their disappointment, the team answered no questions. That's where my quest began.

I took the next year going around and interviewing each member of the team regarding their retirement. I wasn't able to talk to everyone just to throw that out there. What I'm about to show you...what you are about to read; is how their last mission went, which as you'll soon realize is the true reason for them getting out of the game. This is not a novel or a fictional tome for someone poking around for a good read: this is Star Fox: Down.

(You'll have to forgive me if what I say to them seems inappropriate...I didn't want to hold back. And neither did they.)

** The first member of the team I was able to get in touch with was actually on mandatory leave when the operation was going on. He's a good friend of mine, a great pilot and even better with navigation than anyone I've ever seen. My first talk was with Marcus McCloud.**

I was originally on my way to my hotel when I got the call. You never really realize how bad things can suddenly turn until you hear of something like this happening. The traffic on the interstate wasn't bad, in fact I was probably one of maybe ten people on it at the time, which was around two or three in the afternoon. I was doing about five over the speed limit when my phone went off. I glanced at the screen and keyed my bluetooth and answered it. Well that call quickly threw me for a loop. I pulled off of the interstate turned around and went right back home. You really don't understand how...um...real things get I guess until suddenly the reality of war comes back and bites you on the ass while you aren't looking. I pulled into my place and took my phone with me. The guy on the other end was some random dude from the DOD that I'd have guessed had done things like this a million times. But when he was talking to me about...well my family...my own flesh and blood there; I couldn't help but feel like his words were meant. My parents were famous for their services to Lylat you know. If it hadn't been for them, this system might have been much different.

**Did you lose hope ever?**

I did at one point. When we hit the 96 hour mark with no report from them or report of other units seeing them; I had all but given up. I told myself, Marcus if they don't come back they would want you to press on and keep at what you love.

"**What you loved?"**

Yeah. My parents knew that, like them when they were my age, I always wanted to fly. I was in one of the greatest Air Forces known to the galaxy, I was already an Ace and I had more flying hours than most people my age at the time. There was nothing else I wanted to do but fly. My parents knew that, I knew that, Sarah knew that, hell, anyone that knew me well enough, knew that there wasn't anything else I would want to do but fly. And after I started to lose all hope of them ever coming back, I stood up and went back out. I was ordered to take a month's leave, and damn it all I was going to take some freaking leave.

**How did you handle the media? God knows they must've been all over you.**

The media...well they harassed me more than anyone else I think. I called Bill once and Katt a few times asking about it. They told me that they'd been approached too but refused to comment considering that it wasn't really appropriate at the time they were asked. When I was approached by the massive hoard of media that might as well have been Dash Bowman's entire empire, I kinda ignored them.

**Ignored them? Why?**

They were too overzealous about it. All of them I could just tell they were looking for the scoop, they didn't really care. Not a single one of them asked me how it was affecting the rest of the family. I just hid my face and told whoever ran the store or the restaurant I went in to do me a huge favor, and that was keep those damned animals away from me and out of my face. Needless to say I ended up with a police escort for the rest of my month long vacation. I remember one girl, way too concerned with her career to give a damn about a police escort blocking her way to me, she slipped by and immediately pointed a mic at me. Her question was simple: what do you think happened to Fox and his team. I looked at the reporter and said, "No comment, now would you kindly get that damned thing out of my face before these guys do." I motioned to the cops that surrounded us. I think she got the message and she just kinda stood there while the bunch of us kept walking.

**Were you camera shy?**

God no! I'm all for an interview with the CN or whoever wants one, but at the time, I was in no mood to want to think about my parents or my co-workers. I knew they wouldn't want me worrying. So I didn't. I kept telling myself, one day the call will come and the guy from the DOD is going to say, we found your parents, they're okay and they'll be coming home soon. I told myself that for three weeks. At about the second weekend I hung my head after getting out of the shower and said to myself: Way to go, you naive little shit.

**What was it like seeing the news reports from Titania?**

They were hard to watch. I wouldn't care what the reporter had to say really, I was constantly watching the background and praying that maybe dad or Falco or Slippy or someone would pass by. It never happened, reporters never go into the Red Zone. I did swear that once I saw Flaco's blue feathers but I don't think they were actually there. I even rewound my DVR to try and see it again. I had been seeing things. What they did show while I watched though seemed...well incomplete.

**Incomplete?**

It seemed to me like they weren't covering everything. I checked CNN I checked KNN, hell I even tuned into places like Comedy Network and TBS just to see if they had something remotely related to this that might give me hope. Needless to say, Danial Tosh had nothing appropriate to say regarding this incident. I haven't paid his show mind ever since then. The reports that I saw on legit news broadcasts were very one sided, either leaning towards a political party's favor or being the rival party's detriment. I rolled my eyes at most of those reports and said to myself, if I got to the top of CNN or KNN I'd have hung the politics and just did my job, report the news; any and all of it. I wouldn't leave out something because my political party would have an advantage come the next election or whatever.

**Did you ever want to go out there and search yourself?**

I had my moments during my mandatory leave where that's exactly what I wanted to do. When it was about a week in, I called General Hare and asked to return to duty just to look for my dad and his team. You can only imagine how fast my request was denied seeing as my leave was mandatory.

**You mentioned someone named Sarah a minute ago.**

Sarah is my younger sister. Not much younger than me mind you but younger. She and I had much different interests when we were growing up. I wanted to fly the I-Arwing*, she wanted to fix people.

**You mean do medical stuff?**

Exactly. Sarah and I always had little brain wars when we were younger. I'd usually win most of the time because of the gift I got from mom. Unfortunately for Sarah she didn't have it. But yeah, Mom and Dad said that we were two of the smartest kids they'd ever seen, and it was meant not just as an I-love-you-cause-you're-my-son/daughter thing; it was true. Most of the kids in our neighborhood came to us for answers they didn't know. We were right almost all the time. She went to med school and I went to the Academy. You can only imagine how proud our parents were, you know? Especially since then the two biggest honors were going to medical school and going to the CMA. It didn't surprise either of us that the other was top of the class by the end of our first years. Now one thing we didn't do though was let our intelligence go to our heads. I knew a lot of smart people at the Academy that thought they were total badasses just because they could answer a few really tough questions off the tops of their heads. Sarah and I were really humble about it, if someone needed help we'd offer to do so in a casual way.

**Around the end of the first week, people started to riot about the military's lack of searching. What were your thoughts?**

"You people are fucking retarded" was my initial thought. We were at war! You can't suddenly just drop everything to search for four pilots when you've got a war to fight. I get it the Star Fox team was somewhat of an icon and that we were all really popular and what not, but still this was war. People get captured, people go missing and people die. That's just the way it is. I think the Cornerians and the rest of the civilian population in Lylat became aware of that when I delivered a speech about mid way through the second week.

**A speech?**

I wrote up a little speech on the military's behalf that I was planning on presenting when I returned for duty, but it egged at me for three days straight. I could hardly sleep at night because this little voice in my head would be screaming at me "Do it, present the speech" Finally I just got up one morning and said to myself "I'm going to do this." So on Wednesday in front of the hotel I was staying at, I called the press and from on top of a box that helped me overlook everyone there, I gave the press my opinion on the search for my family and friends.

**What happened after that?**

Questions. Lots and lots of fucking questions that, if you'd actually been listening to the speech I gave, had already been answered.

**[Pause]**

Okay, so I didn't answer everything they had to ask. This far into them missing was enough for me to start answering the media. I remember first being asked what my feelings were towards the military's efforts to find them. I remember being very blunt and terse about it. "They're doing what they can." was all I said.

**Did you really feel like they were doing all they could to find your parents?**

Yes. You've got realize like I said earlier, they were fighting a war. It'd be a stupid move to suddenly drop everything that you're doing to try and win to go look for four pilots.

**Even if these four pilots could pretty much win the war?**

Something we never like losing in combat is an asset. Like say we're on the ground. It's you, me, a few other soldiers and we have a Landmaster MBT following us. I would count the MBT as our biggest asset. Okay, now let's say we're walking along and our tank runs over an IED and get's immobilized. Well, our asset is now in trouble. It'd be our job to defend it right? Okay, there we are guarding it while our tech guys are trying to fix it up so we can get it back to base. Next thing you know, an RPG hits the tank and blows it to pieces. Now our asset is gone. So what do you suggest we do then? Do we drop our guns because our tank was blown up and give up? Or do we snap them level and engage the enemy that just blew up our tank so they don't blow up some other unit's tank? Frankly, I'd engage them and take them out so we don't lose anymore tanks, then once they're dealt with we go back to base and get another one.

**Did you just compare your parents to re-issuable equipment?**

Yeah...But hey that's kinda how it is really. We lose an Arwing and a pilot, then what do we do? Next quarter we order another Arwing and train a new pilot. It all just kinda cycles through. You have a veteran pilot that's done with flying and we let him go. He gets to keep his Arwing, since they are relatively cheap to build and the process repeats itself with the new guy and his Arwing.

**Cheap?**

The average Arwing cost about 300,000 credits to make standard. The stuff you see in my cockpit isn't all standard. Most of that stuff is paid for out of pocket and installed by our crew chiefs.

**300,000 doesn't sound really cheap.**

In reality it kinda is. Think of it this way. The orbital gate that we use for our FTL travels cost the military almost ten billion. A fleet of Cornerian battleships costs about that much. The military invests more than two million in each of it's troops. The least they can do for most of them is let them keep something that's standard issue. Marines get to keep their rifles and armor, and pilots keep their Arwings.

**A rumor started up around the last couple of days of the search that there we Aparoids on Titania. Did you believe them?**

It wouldn't have surprised me if there were, but I highly doubted it. I initially shrugged it off as nothing, since I knew dad and them could handle a few bugs. That's not to say I believed them so much as acknowledge them as a possibility.

**When they finally were found after those three weeks, how did you react?**

I broke down and cried tears of joy. And I'm not afraid to admit it either. It's not like your friends are going to take away your man card for crying after a lost person is found and reunited with the rest of his family. I was with Jimmy Bill and Katt at the time. We're at Miller's Ale house watching the game. I get a call, mind it's been eight or nine hours since they actually showed up on base, so they've been with us for a pretty good while now. I answered the phone and my world just kinda stopped.

**[He laughs a little]**

"Yo, this is Marcus." I said.

"Your mom and dad have been found." goes the guy on the other end.

"Are you for real?"

"Yep, they're okay but we need to do some medical screening, just calling to let you know."

That was the end of that call. It was I could do to keep from really breaking down. Bill looks at me with this...this expression on his face like he suddenly knew everything. When I told him, my voice was quivering and I was fighting back tears. He pats me on the shoulder and says it's okay and that I can let it out.

**What about Katt?**

I let her know when she came back from the bathroom. Her reaction was shock, rather than tears. I doubt she'd admit to crying over a good friend being found after two weeks of missing in action.

*The I-Arwing, or Arwing Interceptor was a faster and more streamline version of the standard issue Arwing. What it lacked in defenses it made up for in speed.

** [Our talk ended after Marcus was called into action before I could ask any further questions regarding the matter.]**


	2. Chapter 2

**Star Fox: Down Chapter 2**

** My next interview was with a valued member of original team Star Fox and later becoming our Chief of Staff in the Cornerian Military. He was my mentor when I attended CMA, the one and only General Peppy Hare.**

It was roughly noon when I heard what happened. As a General Officer, you're one of the first guys on station to get everything running, so I'm about to head out on a lunch break. I hadn't even made it out of the command center when my granddaughter looks up from her desk with this look on her face. "I think you should go back and answer your comn sir." I rolled my eyes, we'd already had kind of a slow day so I didn't see the harm in answering one more call before I went to eat. So I go back and I key the button and one of my best officers, Captain Bill Grey is on the other end. He says to me "Sir, the four are down, the four are down." Well I must've missed the memo that we suddenly changed Star Fox's Call sign to the Four because I immediately told Bill to calm down and explain what was going on. It was his next statement that caused me to not end up having lunch until around 1600.

"Star Fox is down" was all he said.

Have you ever had that feeling that history was about to repeat itself? That's immediately how I felt considering the shaky loyalty of some of the team from the Angler Biltz a few years prior.

**Shaky Loyalty?**

Not a lot of people know this, but Fox Krystal and Falco were all having...issues with where their allegiances lay. Fox originally cut Krystal from the team because he was concerned for her safety and Falco wanted to be with Katt but at the same time, still fight with Fox by his side so you could really see the conflicting loyalties.

**Did it ever affect them on the battlefield?**

Not that I could see. Most of the time the team still functioned like a well oiled machine. Though there were times where I could see them making errors that normally wouldn't have been made. I remember distinctly Fox getting tailed and not noticing really until about two or three minutes into being chased. Now he didn't get hit mind you but I looked at it like, "You've got to get your head in the game Fox, you're better than this."

**The people said that you weren't doing your best to find them after they went down. What are your thoughts?**

Hang their opinions.

**[Pause]**

I say that like this, and I'm pretty sure Marcus or any other soldier with enough experience will agree that when you're fighting a war you can't just drop everything to find a set of pilots. Especially when those four have been shot down behind enemy lines and the nearest team that can find them is stuck fighting off the guys responsible for shooting them down. I personally looked at it as another harsh reality of war that most civilians tend to overlook because of how well we protect their freedom.

**Were you approached by the media at all?**

I was approached on multiple occasions. I remember one time I was leaving a restaurant with Lucy and the family and suddenly there this crowd of news reporters swarming near the entrance like a bunch of angry bees. Pictures were taken and the camera's were all around us. I'm not claustrophobic or anything but I really didn't like the lack of breathing room. If it hadn't been for Jacob that night, we might not have gotten to the car.

**Jacob?**

You remember your teammate Jacob Mariek right? Well I didn't know he was there at the time when the media showed up and he got us out of there. One guy actually tossed a shoe at us. He missed of course. The media would've turned into an angry mob of people had it not been for him

**What did he do?**

Pulled out that Sig Sauer and fired a single shot into the air. The got everyone to duck and stop what they were doing. I remember someone screaming right before he fired it was that stereotypical scream of "He's got a gun!" before the shot was fired.

**What happened after that?**

Jake told the camera crews, and mind you this is with cameras still rolling and live broadcasts being streamed all over the place; to, and I quoted this from him so don't shoot a messenger, "Pack [their] shit up and go the fuck home."

**That's Jake for you.**

I was very thankful that he had been there for us. The Mambas* are just like Star Fox in almost every way with the exception that you guys are still going strong. It made me appreciate the private military all the more.

**Was there ever doubt that the Star Fox team would be found?**

I had my doubts about it at first. I told myself that Fox was resourceful and that the rest of the team would have his back no matter what, so whatever the enemy threw at them I was sure they could handle. They've proven themselves more than capable of handling odds that are almost overwhelming.

**Can you explain more?**

Um...let's see...when have the odds actually been in our favor would be a better question.

**[He laughed a bit]**

I guess a really well known time was during the final fight with the Aparoids. As soon as we'd hit the surface of their home world, it was a blood feud. Ships left and right taking each other out. I remember watching a few ships instantly get gutted and one was blown straight to pieces before the enemy even got a shot off.

**Gutted?**

When as ship get's pierced fore to aft** it's referred to as being gutted since all major decks are destroyed along the way. Think of it like you're filleting fish and you have to pull out all the guts in order to put it on the grill or whatever except this is to a battleship or a cruiser or the like.

**So the battle turned sour?**

Yeah, once we lost our element of surprise we lost almost 20% or whatever ships we could spare after the Aparoids turned Corneria into a smoldering hell hole. The fleet fell back leaving us to make the decision to either keep trying or fall back. If Fox hadn't made the call...we might not be having this conversation. I personally crashed the _Great Fox _into a shield that would've kept us from the queen and gave the guys the time they needed to get through before I ejected.

**Was there ever a time where you gave up hope?**

I didn't give up. While I know that some people lost hope around the beginning of the second week, I stuck to my guns like the stubborn rabbit I am. Fox, like his father, never gave up on anything and I certainly wasn't about to give up on him either. I swore to James that I wouldn't let anything happen to him.

**Do you and James still talk?**

Every now and then I drop by for a visit.

**Has Fox ever gone with you?**

Multiple times. And every time it's a very...emotional time for the both of us.

**Emotional?**

Fox and I were really close to James. When we lost him to Andross it was a very hard thing to accept as fact. Every time we go now though, he tells him about what's going on with the team, the state of the galaxy and any opinions he has about it. I usually am there for Fox's comfort. When I go alone though, that's where I'd rather not speak of it for personal reasons.

**[I failed to get him to explain more on the subject.]**

There's never been a time where either of us have go to pay James a visit where tears weren't shed. I honestly don't ever think there will be a time when Fox doesn't cry when he sees James. While I know Krystal has gone with him and she manages to hold her emotions in check, she didn't know James like we did so I've never been surprised by her steadfastness and her lack of tears.

**Is is comforting to know that James was the best father he could be?**

It's very comforting. I knew James for a long time and there's no doubt in my mind that he wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I just wish he could see the man Fox has become.

**How did you react to the media when asked about this subject?**

I simply told them what I had to. "We're doing our best to find them, and we will find them." I cannot count how many times I told them that same sentence. I had more important things to work on than finding one team.

**This was in spite that they were your friends and family?**

Of course. Fox used to look at things like that back during the Angler Blitz. He would tell us, no matter what happens, hit the objective and hit it hard. I remember one time he was so pissed off at them that he radioed his whole squad; Wolf Falco and Katt, and told them to and I quote "Smack the living fuck out of the target."

**What made him so mad?**

They'd attacked Corneria and were hammering one of our bases: the base where I had Krystal stationed. The target was just about every Angler fighter in the sky. He even went ground side to make sure she got out of there. Krystal got out unscratched and was back on the team the following morning. Suppose it wasn't surprising though all things considered about how close they had been.

**Was their relationship a higher priority than the mission?**

Sometimes it seemed that way. Watching them fight together on the ground gave you a better impression about where their priorities were. Like when we hit Sauria during the Aparoid war, for instance, who went ground side to kill the hatchers? None other than Krystal and Fox.

**How does that show their relationship as priority?**

I watched them kiss in the temple even though the enemy was about to roll them over. It was right after they finished that those Aparoids found out just who they were dealing with. Once those were taken care of, they both stayed with each other, covering the others back the whole way around the village, destroying every last hatcher. I remember Falco and Slippy running into trouble and Krystal getting into the Landmaster to take out the aerial enemies. I don't think I've ever seen a Landmaster used like she used it.

**When the team finally was found, after three weeks of being MIA and presumed dead, how did you react?**

I was at the office filing reports and whatnot when I got the call. Colonel Rick was the base commander that called and informed me of their arrival. I took the next few days off and spent them at the space port waiting for them to come home. _Great Fox _docked there that night. When I saw Fox for the first time in three weeks I tried to keep it professional but I think whatever professionalism was there when I saw his smiling face and the rest of the team I broke that attempt really quickly.

**What did you do?**

Well I hugged him and pulled the rest of the team in for one big group hug, I was bawling like a child, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

**Did people stare?**

No, actually a lot of people were left wondering what I was doing there and I told them that it was classified so they'd leave us alone. Well, after we broke our little reunion I informed them they were going to have two months of leave all paid and that it was good to have them back. As we left some fan girl gave her little high pitched squeal and yelled, "Oh my God! It's the Star Fox team!"

**[He fakes a shudder]**

So many fans...

**I imagine it was a pain to get out of the space port.**

Not when Fox and the gang just wanted space. I remember Krystal shouting something over the crowd, probably something like "Enough" or "Shut up" Then she told everyone that they weren't in the mood to see the fans right now, which was true, and that all they wanted was to be left alone. They parted like the freaking Red Sea after that and let us out.

**[The General answered everything I wanted to know, but I still felt as though I wasn't getting the whole story. I would have to look elsewhere for a bit more on what happened on Titania during the three weeks of the team's absence.]**

*Mambas: The Cerinian Mambas are the mercenary group that Jake and I were a part of.

**fore to aft: Front to back in Naval Terms


	3. Chapter 3

**Star Fox: Down Ch 3**

**(It took me nearly a month to set up something just to talk to the next person I would speak with. That chick was always busy with something, be it out there flying or pushing paper work for the senior crew. Readers my next guest was none other than the famous Katt Monroe.)**

Star Fox: Down? I remember that very well unfortunately. My husband was up there, being one of the pilots that was shot down along with Foxboy and his crew. I had friends on the ground that were part of the convoy that was being escorted by them too. I also knew Bill who was in charge of the forces on the ground that day.

**Was i****t**** hard to watch?**

If by watch you mean listen to the radio as the guys started to freak the fuck out when their air support went down.

**Could you elaborate?**

I guess it would be like this. We're walking in the desert and such, having ourselves a freaking blast.

**(She rolls her eyes)**

When out of the blue we see this explosion in the sky and one of the four go spiraling out of control. It was a few seconds later that we saw the second volley of munitions fired that ultimately did them in. You could feel the fire from their ships as well as feel the sudden drop in morale and the sharp increase of fear. Saying that this was hard to watch would be like calling a first time flier with sever motion sickness a threat to anything but your clothes...and maybe your health if they throw up on you.

**So you've seen this before?**

Once or twice in my time on the ground. Most of the time I was in the air but for this mission they wanted me ground side, something about wanting to help maintain order if things went south. And saying that would be a real understatement.

**Understatement?**

As soon as the Arwings went down, the insurgents were all over us. Like moth's to the flame they came in masses, some had guns, some had only what they could find around the house, kitchen knives baseball bats the works of the common household stuff. Witnessing the sheer...

**(She pauses)**

Brutality feels too...I don't know weak, to describe how absolutely murderous these people were. I understood that they were hungry and all but my God, sometimes I wonder, even though I knew that hunger was the root cause of this, what the hell was going through their minds as they mutilated my fellow soldiers for something we'd be distributing to them not ten miles up the road.

**Mutilated?**

You'd have sworn the members that were killed in all of this shit were being sacrificed with how they were killed. I won't go into it on account that I just had lunch.

**Did the media ever get to you?**

Thankfully they only encountered me once, about two weeks or so in. The question was simple. "What happened?"

**How did you respond.**

I didn't.

(**I gave her a confused look)**

I really didn't feel as though I was at leave to discuss such a matter with the mainstream media at the time. Part of me just wanted to bottle it up and keep it locked away while another part called it top secret and on a need-to-know basis. Then there was that last part of me that...

**(She sighs heavily)**

I guess didn't want to accept the possible truth of your-husband-is-dead.

**Did the riots about you not doing your job bother you?**

They actually didn't to be completely honest. The civilian mind has always baffled me ever since I joined the service. It's not like I resented the Star Fox team when they all got taken down but when we're in the middle of a fire fight a person's true colors really show.

**True Colors?**

What someone is really made of. What that person can and can't do even though they really want to. We're all trained to handle bullets zinging over our heads and such but not everyone can handle the real thing versus just a simulation. In a real fire fight, when your next step can be your last, that's when a person's colors shine and you get that maybe once in a life time look at who they really are.

**Did you know someone like that?**

I hate to admit it but that's actually myself I'm talking about. As much as ground side work pays for a pilot, don't think we ever enjoy being grounded. Sure I'm trained to be the best in any situation but that doesn't mean I am the best. My skill level with a rifle is average at best and nevermind combat marksmanship. The dust and the screams and the tunnel vision all play factors that can throw your shot or shots off target and cost you your life.

**Was the fighting against the insurgents brutal for you?**

Oh yes. They came at us with everything and the kitchen sink. One minute you're firing at enemies at range and even snipers and the next your getting down and dirty with hand-to-hand bull shit. The way they trained us was to fight dirty so we can distance ourselves from the assailant and get back to our weapons.

**It had to have made things messy sometimes.**

In all honesty, Zane, I'd rather not talk about it. All I'll say on the subject is this. Picture shooting a watermelon at point blank range with a 7.62mm round and then talk to me about messy.

**Could you elaborate more on what it was like trying to find the Star Fox ****team?**

I can't say a lot, only because most of it hasn't be declassified yet. I will say this though, trying to find them in all that desert sand was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack: damn near impossible if you don't know what you're doing.

**Did the thought of possibly finding the team dead cross your mind at all?**

Once or twice.

**Explain.**

Well, the first time was when we found Slippy's Arwing. The unlucky kid had the privilege of being blasted apart versus shot down. The only parts of it we found were the cockpit, torn in half, and bits and pieces of God knew what else.

**Was Slippy with his ship when you found it?**

No, but he did the right thing and left directions as to where he went, which is a gutsy move when you're behind enemy lines.

**Would you have guessed that the insurgents were looking for the pilots?**

I wouldn't put it passed them. They'd have probably turned them either into their squeaking canaries, not that I'm racist, or turned them into a warning that they wouldn't surrender.

**But they didn't find them right?**

They found one of the four.

**Are you allowed to tell who?**

No.

**(I tried to get her to hint at it even just the slightest idea would have been nice but she wouldn't. Try as I might it was like talking to a brick wall.)**

**Has anyone ever asked you about your relationship with Falco?**

No, and that's only because most people already know about it. We're married, what else is there to say.

**Did your relationship ever interfere with your job during the Titiania incident?**

It tore my heart out, but I stuck with it and pulled through.

**Stuck with...**

Two things actually. The first was to my job, because my duty always came first. That's probably a given for people like us though.

**And the second thing?**

A trivial thing I suppose: hope.

**Hope?**

** (She nods her head at me.)**

Hope was the best thing I could hold onto at the point. I hoped Falco was safe and I hoped I would be able to see him again.

**Did the thought of you yourself dying ever factor in?**

Surprisingly no. I kept telling myself that no matter what happens I was going to get out alive.

**Some would call that grounds for betrayal.**

And those people are stupid. I may have wanted to survive, and who wouldn't, but when you're a soldier, dying on the battlefield isn't so bad it seems. Those I've held in my arms who died on the spot have this look in their eyes. A sort of glint I guess is the only real way to describe it.

**When you finally found the last member of the team, what happened to you personally?**

There was a huge sense of relief and a bigger sense of nostalgia.

**Why nostalgia?**

I felt like a horrible person for thinking, oh yes our fan base is saved and such but yet that was one of the things that occurred to me. I've only felt it that once and ever since then looked at it like I was out of my mind.

**Did your fan base really mean that much to you?**

No, honestly I have no idea why that thought occurred to me.

(**Katt turned into an excellent source for this incident, but there was also the classified stuff she mentioned. Most people could find ways around things like that with means like hack and system wide terrorism the latter of which would never work and the previous being nearly impossible unless you are three fourths super computer and one fourth God. It seemed to me that my search had yielded one of it's best results without having to talk to Fox and his crew just yet. One thing was for sure, I wanted to find out who was the member of the team that was captured that Katt was so keen to keep hidden.)**


End file.
